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Welcome to our autumn edition
of Vegucation! e-newsletter! We'd like to keep you up to
date with our school-related news and activities. If you find
this newsletter useful and interesting, please send it to your
friends. Or if you have been forwarded this
e-newsletter by a friend and you'd like to subscribe to receive
it, please subscribe
here
Contents:
Our new website for
youthful vegetarians and young people curious about vegetarianism is
now online. It includes information about nutrition, reasons for
going veggie and resources for use at home and in school alongside
some fun stuff and will hopefully prove to be a useful reference
point for both children and adults. Please let us know what you
think of it. All ideas, comments and criticisms are warmly
welcomed!
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Why It's Green to go Veggie.... |
Floods, foot and mouth and climate
chaos have ensured that sustainability and the
environment continue to be big news. Even the Department for
Children, Schools and Families (DfCSF) think it should be studied!
They recognise that a "key objective for scientific investigation is
the interaction between people and the environment" and that "pupils
can begin to consider the need for changing lifestyles". So these
issues can be dealt with in classrooms free from the fear of a
slapped wrist from the management or OFSTED minion.
Young
people want their schools to increase sustainable practices too!
According to a new DfCSF survey 70% of the 13-15 year olds
questioned thought that it was important to know where the
ingredients in their school meals come from (88%
stated that they know little or nothing about this at
present!). 81% think it is important that their school uses
renewable energy and re-uses rainwater. The survey even calls
on head teachers, teachers and governors to increase their schools'
sustainability performance.
Our latest
publication, "Why It's Green To Go Vegetarian", explains that diet
is an increasingly important tool in working to achieve
environmental sustainability.
It demonstrates why going
veggie is an easy and practical way to lower your own environmental
impact and help ensure worldwide food security. It also includes
many useful snippets of information to drop into
the next lunchtime staffroom chat! Did you know that farmed animals
produce more greenhouse gas emissions (18%) than the world's entire
transport system (13.5%)? I didn't! Or that methane has 23 times the
global warming impact of carbon dioxide and cows and sheep are
responsible for over a third of the total methane generated by human
activity?
And. are you
aware that much of the land used to raise animals has undergone
habitat destruction and deforestation? Forests, one of the world's
most valuable resources, are being destroyed at an alarming rate.
Between 2000 and 2005, 90 million acres of forest were cleared.
Nowadays a third of the earth's entire land surface - a massive 70%
of all agricultural land - is used for rearing farmed animals
and a third of the world's land suitable for growing crops is used
to produce feed for farmed animals. Not the most efficient use of
resources as cattle eat approximately 7kg of grain in order to
generate 1kg of beef!
The "Why It's Green To Go Vegetarian"
booklet can be downloaded as a pdf
here, or ordered via the
usual contact addresses.
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Chew On This |
If you haven't already seen the Food
Commission's "Chew On This" website, it comes highly recommended to
anyone who is interested in how food is produced and its effect on
the environment and health.
The site is designed for KS3 students
but much of the information and activity sheets are relevant, or can
be easily modified, for most age groups (and teachers!). There are
comprehensive sections that are chock-full of ideas for activities
on fats, salt and sugar, food labelling, food additives, marketing
and advertising, as well as a really useful glossary of terms
and downloadable posters. Particular favourites are the activity
sheets on food marketing which include "How Much Would You Eat For
Books?" and "Should You Eat To Get Fit?".
The Food Commission is the UK's leading
independent and not-for-profit watchdog on food issues. It accepts
no commercial advertising or sponsorship. Visit the 'Chew
On This' website.
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The latest British Nutrition
Foundation (BNF) resources to help teachers develop structured food
skills and cooking courses for KS3 and KS4 students can be found here
All of the materials, including 12
short food skill videos which can be used to introduce or recap
different food skills and techniques, are free to download or can be
purchased from the BNF on
dvd.
Their "Food A Fact Of Life" website,
advertised primarily as suitable for KS1 and KS2, but easily
adaptable for older age ranges, is another really useful resource
for supporting work on healthy eating, cooking and food skills. The
Cooking and Food skills module also features videos which
demonstrate basic food skills and some simple vegetarian meals being
prepared. Visit their website.
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This is the The Vegetarian Society's newsletter
for everyone who works in schools.
We are an educational charity
promoting understanding and respect for vegetarian lifestyles. We
offer expert advice on nutritional issues and provide free
information to individuals, companies and organisations. If you
think we might be able to help you please get in touch.
The Vegetarian Society, Parkdale, Dunham
Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 4QG
Tel: 0161 925 2000,
Fax: 0161 926 9182
Email: education@vegsoc.org
www.vegsoc.org
Registered Charity 259358
Youth Education
Team:Jamie Johnson / Michiko Fujii
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A vegetarian is someone living on a diet
of grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits with or
without the use of dairy products and eggs (preferably
free-range) |
Did you know...?
Just under a
quarter of the world's population has a predominantly vegetarian
diet?
Our Vegetarian Catering for Schools and Colleges
booklet is packed with fifty-two healthy veggie recipes! You can download a copy here
Date for your diaries
National Vegetarian Week
19th - 25th May
2008.
National Vegetarian Week was first celebrated
in the UK in 1992!
Silent But
Deadly
Postcards
and A3 posters are available to order free of charge by
emailing:
education@vegsoc.org
You can find out
more by visiting our
website
Our website has thousands of
vegetarian recipes to suit
all seasons and occasions?
To learn more about The Vegetarian
Society and vegetarianism, visit
www.vegsoc.org
The Project Book For Schools, which was
specifically written for students studying Food Technology, remains
as popular as ever. It covers a range of important areas including
nutrition, menu planning, designing and packaging of vegetarian
foods, recipes, alternative sources of protein, and useful addresses
for further research. This booklet is available direct from the
Society or can be downloaded by
clicking here
Young Veggie is aimed
specifically at young people interested in a vegetarian diet. It
offers similar advice and information as our Parent and Teenager
Guide to Vegetarianism, but is also appropriate for pre-teen
children. It is available free from the Society. For a full
list of our resources visit
our website
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